Efficiency in the work curve is conditioned by factors beyond fatigue proper: practice, adaptation, preparedness, warming up, spurts, voluntary effort, ennui, and diurnal rhythms (Offner)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 1910 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Psychological analysis of the work curve identifies, in addition to fatigue proper, practice, adaptation, preparedness, warming up, spurts of several types, voluntary effort, ennui, and diurnal rhythms as factors conditioning efficiency. → G. M. W 1910

Evidence¶

G. M. W 1910¶

G. M. W. (1910). Abstracts and Reviews: Some Recent Literature upon Fatigue; Studies in Arithmetic. The Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0069029

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review summarizes Offner's analysis of factors other than fatigue that condition efficiency (Leistungsfahigkeit), listing "practice, both concomitant and persistent," warming up, spurts, and diurnal rhythms; no quantitative findings are printed.

"the psychologist unearths, in addition to fatigue proper, practice, both concomitant and persistent (glcichlaufcnde and nachdauernde), adaptation, preparedness, warm- ing up (Anlauf, Anregung), spurts (Antricbe) of several types—initial, terminal, etc.—together with voluntary effort, ennui, diurnal rhythms"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Fatigue depends on age, sex, lesson length and number, time of day, weekday, recesses, holidays, rest, sleep, nature of work, school program, and teacher personality (Offner's laws of fatigue) — related
• Demanding maximal speed in fatigue tests obscures each individual's normal work rhythm, testing an abnormal psychophysical condition (Yoakum) — related
• Psychological methods of fatigue measurement afford useful average values and reliable information about the course and effect of fatigue (Offner) — related
• Not every hour of study time is equally productive; the benefit of an additional hour depends on the student's position on their learning curve — related
• The adaptive mode showed a progressive per-question learning-delta increase across the session (from Δ = 3.16 on Q1 to Δ = 19.97 on Q9), suggesting a warm-up effect as participants learned the system — related
• Under extreme fatigue, mental multiplication efficiency ends at a definite, relatively abruptly appearing point rather than tailing off by degrees — related
• Studies on the mental fatigue of school children assist in arranging the daily program, including order of subjects and recess periods — related
• Performance on difficult mental multiplication improves during a continuous work period of about two hours — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Thirty to forty-eight hours of sleep loss produced no greater efficiency loss than the gain due to practice, despite reported feelings of fatigue — related
• Individual learning curves rise by irregular increments with occasional losses, with plateau-like periods attributed to changes in method and waning interest — related
• The data cannot be used to investigate end spurt because subjects were not told when each test would end — related
• Initial spurt takes place as a general rule in addition, which the author argues chance variation cannot explain — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Addition efficiency drops sharply from the first to the second two-minute period, indicating initial spurt — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Prior initial-spurt experiments failed because test periods were too lengthy and subjects too few — related